New Feature Added to Online Budget Discussion

Community Conversation set for Saturday

A new option has been added to the City's online budget discussion at lincoln.ne.gov. Over the last month, more than 2,000 people have taken the online budget survey, which asks them to make funding decisions on nine current city programs. The new feature allows participants to make other suggestions on what could be cut from the budget.

"We originally limited the list to nine programs to keep it simple enough that we can show participants the impact their decisions would have on property taxes," Mayor Beutler said. "The survey does include opportunities for discussion on the nine programs. But we've heard from many people that they wanted more choices. The new feature also allows participants to vote on the original nine programs as well as the new suggestions that are coming in. Again, the goal of this entire effort is to encourage public participation and to build consensus on how we move forward."

Those who take the survey have the opportunity to sign up for the Community Conversation from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, June 18 at the County-City Building, 555 S. 10th. Those who can't attend in person can watch the session on 5 CITY-TV (government access cable channel 5) and participate in an online discussion through the City website.

The City has worked with the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center on the Taking Charge public budget process. More information on the Center is available at ppc.unl.edu.